1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass substrate handling tool, and more particularly, to a glass substrate handling tool which transports glass substrates, a method of handling glass substrates, and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD).
2. Description of the Related Art
Rapid development of flat displays has led to LCDs which are relatively small and are light weight. Development has also led to LCDs having enhanced performance.
Though a CRT (cathode ray tube) used for an information display has advantages from a performance and price standpoint, the CRT has many disadvantages, such as size and lack of portability.
The advantages of LCDs, which include a relatively small size, light weight, and low power consumption, has made them an attractive alternative to CRTs. Accordingly, LCDs are increasingly being used with information processing devices that have a display.
During operation, an LCD applies a voltage to a predetermined molecular arrangement in a liquid crystal (LC) to covert the molecular arrangement into a second molecular arrangement. The change in molecular arrangement changes the optical properties of the liquid crystal, including birefringence, optical rotation, and dichroism, and optical scattering of an LC cell emitting light. The second molecular arrangement changes the optical properties thereby changing an image which is viewable on the LCD. Thus, the LCD functions by modulating light passing through liquid crystals.
In the LCD, a mask process is performed on a glass substrate to form a color filter substrate having a color filter layer thereon or an array substrate having a pixel electrode and TFT switching devices.
During manufacturing of a LCD, glass substrates are stacked on a cassette and moved to various process chambers.
When the stacked cassette is moved to a process chamber, the glass substrates are sequentially brought into and out of the cassette with a robot during processing in the chamber.
A related art LCD has been used for a cellular phone display window, a measurement instrument display window, and a small-sized notebook computer. In addition, LCDs have been used for displays having larger sizes, such as a TV monitor.
As a result, the sizes of glass substrates used during the manufacturing process of the LCD has increased from 1100 mm×1250 mm to 1500 mm×1800 mm and larger.
In the related art, as the size of the glass substrate was less than 1100 mm×1250 mm, an operator manually handled the glass substrate after the glass substrate was taken from the cassette. Moreover, an operator manually placed the glass substrate back into the cassette. However, when the size of the glass substrate exceeds 1500 mm×1800 mm, it is difficult for an operator to manually handle the glass substrate.
Since there is no separate tool for an operator to handle a relatively large glass substrate, the glass substrate may break when an operator manually handles it.
Therefore, a need exists for a tool which handles a large glass substrate during a manufacturing process.